Arkansas Razorbacks coach Dave Van Horn's complete press conference Tuesday morning ahead of leaving for first SEC road trip of the year at Auburn after opening league play with a sweep of the Missouri Tigers.
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00:00 >> Hey, I know you guys obviously are off to a great start, but
00:03 this is gonna be your first true road series.
00:05 I know you played in Arlington, those were neutral side games.
00:08 How do you feel about going on the road for the first time?
00:11 >> I think our guys are excited, I'm fine.
00:13 I like playing on the road.
00:15 I think it kind of bonds the team a little bit.
00:19 The routine's pretty, it's just easy.
00:24 Not as many outside distractions, honestly.
00:28 We work out on Wednesday evening and we feed them, get up and
00:35 feed them again and go over things during the day.
00:38 And then you go to the field and play and same thing on Friday.
00:42 And then obviously, with Friday being a Saturday, a day game, it's a quick turnaround.
00:48 And I know it's just a lot of thinking about baseball for
00:53 70 hours or whatever it is, but I'm looking forward to it.
00:58 I really feel like the team's looking forward to it.
01:00 And no matter how it goes, I think it'll be, if it goes great, great.
01:06 If it doesn't go good, I don't think it's because we're on the road as much as that.
01:11 We just didn't play good or Auburn played really good, so looking forward to it.
01:16 >> Well, Auburn got roughed up pretty good at Vandy, but
01:18 a lot of teams are probably gonna lose at Vanderbilt.
01:22 Cata, what's your take on Auburn after getting to study up on them a little bit
01:26 and what they did in their opening SEC series?
01:29 >> Yeah, a very offensive team, they hit home runs, they can score,
01:33 their lineup's deep.
01:34 Like you said, it's hard to judge anything really this early in SEC play.
01:43 I mean, you have a bad weekend, a bad day or two, and
01:45 your numbers don't look right, and they'll even up.
01:50 But Vanderbilt is tough at home, playing on that turf, no foul territory.
01:55 It's a totally different environment.
01:57 It's just a different game.
02:02 Auburn's really good at home, you look at their home record.
02:06 They've done a nice job over there with their, I guess,
02:12 accommodations for fans.
02:14 And now they go around right field and
02:16 they built another section almost in center field, right center.
02:20 And it can be loud there now, and they get after you pretty good.
02:24 So we're gonna have to pitch and field again, so
02:27 we don't give up big innings, cuz those guys can score.
02:31 Thanks.
02:33 >> Go ahead.
02:34 >> Hey Dave, I assume you're sticking with the same starting rotation.
02:39 >> Yeah, unless something happens between now and
02:42 tomorrow when I think I have to announce it.
02:44 I'm not even sure since we played Thursday, but yeah, we won't change anything.
02:50 And unless after some bullpens today, some guys don't feel right,
02:56 but I don't anticipate that.
02:57 >> Are there any, with this being a Thursday, Friday, Saturday,
03:00 are there any limitations for those guys?
03:02 >> No, no, not if they, one last day, the weather looks good Thursday,
03:09 Friday doesn't look very good, Saturday looks a little better.
03:14 Just unless we ran into super cold weather or something,
03:20 but that's one reason we let the guys go a little bit longer this weekend,
03:24 pitch count wise, just continually building it up.
03:27 So they can go 90 to 100 if they need to, and just cuz it's one day shorter.
03:33 We don't feel like it's gonna be an issue unless they tell us they're tired or
03:38 they're not feeling right.
03:39 >> I wanna ask you about one of your bullpen arms, Cooper Dossett.
03:43 I mean, this is a guy that was pretty highly regarded out of high school,
03:46 didn't pitch a whole lot.
03:47 And this era, you think maybe a guy like that might enter the transfer portal, but
03:50 he stuck it out.
03:51 Just kind of what's that say about him and
03:53 what have you thought about his growth from last year to this year?
03:56 >> Well, he's gotten a lot better, obviously.
03:59 And when we did pitch him last year in 23,
04:02 we were seeing a little bit of what we saw now in our practices and scrimmages.
04:09 But when we put him in the game last year, it didn't go real well, and
04:13 then opportunity didn't happen after that.
04:16 We discussed that with him and felt bad that he didn't pitch a little bit more.
04:22 But at the same time, some guys were pitching well, and
04:25 it gave him a chance to work out, develop.
04:28 He had arm injuries in high school, and he didn't pitch a whole lot,
04:31 because his arm bothered him.
04:33 He didn't pitch the fall of his freshman year either because of his arm.
04:36 So he was just behind, and now his stuff's good.
04:41 And you look at what he's done so far,
04:44 I don't know if he's walked anybody, I think he's pitched,
04:47 struck out seven or whatever he's done.
04:49 And it's been good, that's why we had him on the roster.
04:52 And there were some guys left off, the 27 man last year that he got in front of.
04:56 And we put him in the game, it's an SEC game, and yeah, we were ahead.
05:00 But we put him in ahead of some other guys who wanna see him pitch, and
05:04 he backed it up pretty good.
05:06 I don't know how many strikeouts he has.
05:08 He got three outs on seven pitches the other day,
05:10 which is about as good as it can get.
05:13 So what does it say about him?
05:15 It says he wanted to be here, and he's a tough kid, we're glad he's here.
05:20 [BLANK_AUDIO]
05:22 >> Dudley, you obviously gave great starting pitching.
05:26 Did you get enough innings out of the other guys last weekend,
05:30 or was it a either or thing there?
05:32 >> Well, honestly, there were some guys that we kinda wanted to rest a little bit.
05:38 And even Gackle, we almost didn't pitch him an inning, but
05:44 we thought, well, let's throw him one inning.
05:47 And if we needed him to win a game, we were gonna use him.
05:51 But obviously, that game was in hand.
05:54 The Saturday game, it was in hand as well, obviously.
05:58 But it was good to only throw him one inning.
06:01 So really, in our opinion, except for maybe Parker Coyle or
06:06 someone like that that needed to get out there and pitch a little bit.
06:13 Cuz he's been working on a couple new things, and
06:16 we would have liked to have seen him pitch.
06:19 But I feel good about the rest.
06:22 And guys are throwing bullpens yesterday, today, and
06:26 getting ready for the weekend.
06:29 They're light, light bullpens.
06:31 I think it was a good time to let guys just maybe get ready for
06:35 an offensive Auburn on the road in front of their crowd.
06:40 Probably gonna need more guys, and hopefully we'll be strong.
06:44 >> Appreciate it.
06:45 Tom?
06:47 >> Yeah, a couple times you've mentioned how offensive Auburn is.
06:50 What is it specifically?
06:51 What are they good at, and who are their guys?
06:55 >> Well, I can't go over the list of all their guys, but
06:58 I can tell you that the middle of their order, they swing at strikes.
07:01 They make you throw it over the plate.
07:03 They use the whole field.
07:08 And some teams are a little pull happy.
07:10 You can get them out with off speed stuff, lighten the count.
07:14 Auburn makes some really good adjustments.
07:16 They stay through the middle of the field.
07:18 They go the other way.
07:19 And yeah, I mean, they just, the numbers back it up.
07:25 They've been behind in a lot of games this year where they've come back and
07:28 scored five, six, seven, eight runs in the last few innings to win.
07:31 So even if you get a lead on them, you just feel like no lead is safe.
07:37 You've really got to bear down, throw it over the plate, and make them earn it.
07:43 And that's what we've done a good job of is throwing strikes.
07:47 I think this is gonna be a really good series.
07:51 We're gonna have to play well.
07:52 >> Okay, hey, looking at your weekend starters and areas of improvement,
07:56 are they hit by pitches by Tigard?
07:58 And maybe the pitch count from Molina, just something you just live with?
08:02 Or I mean, can they be significantly better there?
08:05 >> Yeah, you know, think about Tigard hitting people.
08:07 It's been with breaking balls, curveball sliders.
08:10 Yeah, I mean, it's still early.
08:15 Molina, well, he had a couple of good innings, but
08:17 he had a couple innings where he had to throw 20 plus pitches.
08:20 And if they're hitting you and things happen, you understand that.
08:26 If he could just get that pitch count down a little bit, yeah, it's concerning.
08:31 But it's not like it's been a major problem as far as winning and
08:36 losing because he's found a way to give us usually four to five innings.
08:40 But there's seven in there.
08:41 There's seven innings in there if he'll just throw wasting pitches.
08:48 Borderline strikes, those are good.
08:51 You throw an elevated fastball with an O2 count,
08:54 trying to get him to chase it, that's a great pitch.
08:57 The pitches that aren't good are the ones that are just way off the plate or
09:01 way up right out of the hand.
09:02 There's no chance you're gonna swing at it.
09:05 Because Molina has, is a knack for getting them to swing at that elevated pitch.
09:11 Cuz out of hand, it looks pretty good, but it stays up.
09:13 But you can't throw it too high.
09:15 And, but he's been really good.
09:17 It's been fun watching those guys pitch.
09:19 And again, we only played four weeks.
09:21 We got a lot more to go.
09:22 And as time goes on, weather warms up, these guys are gonna heat up as well on
09:27 some of their control, I feel like.
09:30 >> Yeah, my last thing is, you started to say something about on Hagan on Friday,
09:35 about the fans, do the fans really know what they're seeing?
09:38 And then you gave your background on how long you've been.
09:41 So what is it specifically maybe that Hagan has really honed in on that now,
09:45 he's better, his pitch counts are lower.
09:48 Why is he so better right now?
09:50 >> Well, it's a lot of things.
09:54 It's, like I said, he's just 20 years old.
09:57 And he'll be 20 years old when the season's over.
10:00 Even if we play in the last game of the season,
10:02 he's still gonna be 20 years old, he's young.
10:06 And, but he's gotten physically stronger.
10:09 I think what he can really do is, he can really repeat his delivery.
10:13 He stays balanced, he doesn't get out of whack much, and
10:17 that's why there's not those bad misses.
10:20 And when he does miss, they're pretty good pitches.
10:23 And some are just right there, ball off, and that's what you want.
10:27 Just the development with Coach Hobbs and growing up, practice.
10:36 I mean, everything combined is just making him the guy we thought he could be,
10:42 and even more honestly.
10:43 I mean, who could project that, how good he is right now,
10:48 when he walked in the door here, we knew he had a really good arm.
10:54 We knew he was a great kid and he wanted to get better.
10:56 But probably to me though, ever since the season ended last year, and
11:01 it didn't go good, his last outing.
11:05 And that guy has worked incredibly hard.
11:08 And this is a guy that's almost unanimous pick for captain, and
11:11 he doesn't talk a whole lot.
11:13 And they picked him because they just see that guy working every day.
11:16 And probably as a young pitcher, you're probably going,
11:20 how am I gonna keep up with this guy?
11:22 And they respect him a lot, and then you watch him on the field, and
11:26 it's been incredible.
11:28 And he's not worried about all the other stuff.
11:31 He's not worried about the draft.
11:33 He's not worried about where he's gonna go and all that stuff.
11:36 He's just playing, he's just pitching, he's playing for the team, and
11:39 he knows it's gonna be fine.
11:41 And that's one thing that we as coaches really appreciated about him,
11:46 is just the way he is off the field and as a person and the way he leads.
11:51 >> Yeah, and without those first three batters of the season,
11:55 the windblown home run after the other two, I mean, his ERA is unreal.
12:00 >> Yeah. >> Without those three.
12:01 >> Yeah, and he just comes at you, man, he just comes at you.
12:04 And as a hitter, I mean, it's just like every time, first pitch of every game,
12:10 the hitter's swinging, and they're trying to hit the first pitch as hard and
12:14 as far as they can.
12:15 And cuz they know they're gonna get about 97 right over the plate.
12:19 And it's been amazing, because they know he's just coming at them.
12:23 >> Thanks.
12:26 >> Daniel.
12:26 >> Hey, Coach.
12:29 This one's a little bit different.
12:31 There was a piece in The Athletic about a week ago about how the evolving of
12:35 pitching over time and people are kind of prioritizing stuff over pitchability now.
12:42 Have you seen that trickle down to the college level at all?
12:45 Like are kids chasing stuff more than they used to be and
12:48 kind of how that's evolved over time?
12:50 >> Well, I think maybe on the professional ranks,
12:56 they're looking for guys with, I mean, stuff, stuff, stuff is good.
13:02 They're talking about velocity.
13:04 Velocity is great, but I got a couple guys on the team that throw in the upper 90s.
13:07 They haven't been on the mound yet, and they've been injured a little bit.
13:10 But you gotta be able to pitch.
13:13 And you think about a guy like Colin Fisher is gonna pitch 88 to 92.
13:20 And except for the other day, he's been getting everybody out.
13:22 And Tiger's not trying to blow people away.
13:25 He's pitching at 90, 92.
13:26 And he can throw 94, 95 if you just say, hey, go do it.
13:30 But it's pitchability.
13:31 It's mixing and keeping guys off balance.
13:35 You think about Missouri's lefty the other day, topped out at 90, 91.
13:38 But he got us out for five innings.
13:39 And maybe nationally, that's what a lot of people are looking for.
13:45 But when we're out recruiting, we're looking for guys that can pitch.
13:49 Example, if we see a right-handed pitcher that's a junior in high school,
13:54 and he's throwing 88 miles an hour, that's okay.
14:00 But that's not what everybody's looking for.
14:02 But if he has a really good breaking ball or he can spin the baseball,
14:06 we're gonna recruit that kid.
14:08 Cuz we know that he's gonna throw 91, 92 one day, and
14:10 that might be where he lives.
14:12 But he's got that secondary pitch.
14:14 So I don't buy all of that.
14:16 And I think that maybe a different level they're looking for that.
14:22 And velocity's great, because you gotta make decisions quicker as a hitter.
14:26 But, well, you gotta back it up with some command and
14:29 location, cuz kids, once they get used to hitting 96, 97,
14:32 if you don't have something else, they're gonna hit it, and
14:35 they're gonna hit it hard.
14:37 >> I guess for the kids that can throw 96 and 97,
14:41 have the coaches gotten better at, I guess, taking care of the arms?
14:47 And keeping the arms healthy and less volatile?
14:51 >> Well, I mean, that's a tough question.
14:52 I feel like it's probably program to program.
14:56 A lot of times the problem is, you got the high school and the summer league.
15:00 And the summer league pitcher's throwing once a weekend,
15:04 he's not around the team.
15:06 He shows up, he pitches, he goes home, drives back 500 miles or
15:09 whatever they do, and they just try to blow and go.
15:12 And that's where a lot of guys are getting hurt.
15:14 Then you got these end of July and
15:16 August showcases that the pro people put on.
15:19 That's where a ton of kids get hurt.
15:21 And they're not in great shape.
15:24 Here, we monitor everything they do, almost every pitch that they throw,
15:28 we keep an eye on it.
15:30 We know how many pitches they throw in every bullpen,
15:34 how hard they threw them, how they were spinning.
15:37 I mean, yeah, it's program to program.
15:42 I feel like we did a good job of monitoring it.
15:47 But sometimes we get some of these kids and they're already hurt.
15:51 And we have a couple in here now that we took that were already hurt,
15:54 whether they had surgery or they came in hurt.
15:57 And you try to rehab and get them right.
15:59 But yeah, that's just too broad of a question.
16:03 I think it's just different everywhere.
16:05 >> Thanks, coach.
16:07 >> Jacob.
16:08 >> Hey, coach, I wanted to ask about Peyton Stovall,
16:12 obviously a guy that you have a ton of confidence in.
16:15 But we're seven games in and there hasn't really been a sign of any rust.
16:19 Just how pleasantly surprised have you been with the way that he's jumped back in,
16:23 hitting the field, everything so far?
16:25 >> Well, I didn't know how it was gonna go, obviously, a month ago.
16:30 But the last week, I guess it was,
16:36 maybe it was the week before that on like a Thursday, we had some guys that hadn't
16:40 thrown, maybe even some redshirt guys that throw live on a mound to the hitters.
16:49 And we were coming up to the weekend series and we were thinking,
16:54 we're gonna play Peyton maybe the next Tuesday against ORU.
16:59 But he had four bats and he hit four missiles, excuse me, three missiles.
17:05 I mean, and by our track man that was seeing how far they hit it and
17:11 how fast it exited the barrel and all that other stuff.
17:13 I mean, he had like two doubles and a homer.
17:17 And we're like, wow, he's ready now.
17:19 And our trainers, doctors were there, one of the trainers there.
17:23 And they told me, they said, if he feels okay Friday,
17:28 maybe you can DH him, cuz I asked.
17:31 I'd really like to get him some at bats, talked to Peyton about it, and
17:35 that's how that went.
17:36 So after I saw him do that, it doesn't surprise me at
17:41 all where he's at on the offensive end.
17:45 I was more worried about the running, the fielding, he can really field.
17:49 And he's been able to take ground balls, stay in shape there.
17:53 I was a little concerned about his arm, cuz he had shoulder surgery.
17:58 I mentioned that the other day, a lot of people forget about that.
18:00 This guy has some things in there now that weren't in there a year ago that are
18:04 holding that together and it's healed.
18:05 And it's gonna be better than ever when it's done, but it's not 100%.
18:09 He has to really take care of it.
18:10 We limit his throws and what he does.
18:15 But the bat's been amazing.
18:16 I've been concerned about his running.
18:17 And the other day, we had a pitcher that was throwing slow to the plate, and
18:21 I stole him.
18:23 He got there and I told him, I said, I just wanna see what you could do.
18:26 And he said, keep doing it.
18:28 And then he had to score from first on a double, he did it.
18:31 I'm watching him run, seeing if he's gonna start limping.
18:34 And I think he's good now, but it's been amazing.
18:39 It would have surprised me, but that one day last,
18:43 about a week and a half ago when he did what he did, we were like, wow.
18:47 This guy's ready to hit pitching, cuz the stuff we were throwing at him was 92,
18:50 93 left hand, right hand pitching, and he handled it real easy.
18:55 >> And I remember you talking a couple of weeks ago about how he was always around
18:58 the team and really good spirits while he was recovering from that.
19:01 Just how impressed were you with his leadership throughout that process, and
19:05 then obviously coming back the way he is?
19:07 >> Yeah, we talked to him last year about it, after he had the surgery,
19:11 cuz he was so bummed out and down about it.
19:15 And we'd had so many injuries and we were still winning.
19:19 And we just told him, hey man, you gotta keep your head up,
19:22 cuz everybody's looking at you, and it's just the way it is.
19:25 And I told him, I said, a lot of guys, they couldn't handle this, but
19:29 you're tough enough to handle it, and you're gonna be fine.
19:31 And let's get healthy for your junior year, and let's have a great 24.
19:36 And a couple other people talked with him, cuz the first few days after,
19:41 he found out he was gonna have his surgery on his shoulder, he was really down.
19:46 But then about a week later, he flipped it.
19:49 And then in the fall, I think the guys saw him working out,
19:54 how hard he was working out.
19:56 I mean, his lower half is so much stronger.
19:59 And that's really, I mean, that ball hit down the right field line the other day,
20:03 past the first base.
20:04 That ball was hit over 110 miles an hour, and it wasn't elevated.
20:08 And there's no way he could have done that last year.
20:10 It's just, he's stronger, he's quicker, swings beautiful right now.
20:15 And timing still not 100%, but when it is, when it's linked up,
20:19 he's as good as anybody in the country.
20:22 So, but the players, they watched him, and they respected him.
20:25 And they voted this guy, one of our captains, and
20:28 he didn't take it bad all fall.
20:31 And we have a lot of new players, so that was pretty impressive.
20:35 >> Thanks, Coach.
20:36 >> Yeah. >> Bob.
20:38 >> Yeah, Dave, you got me wondering, you said he hit two doubles in a home run in
20:42 those four at-bats, what did he do in the other at-bat?
20:45 >> He hit it somewhere, he didn't strike out, I remember that.
20:48 And again, we were inside, and it's not as easy to hit inside as it is out.
20:53 And I mean, the lighting's good, but it's still different.
20:56 And that's what was so impressive.
20:58 He hit two balls to left field, opposite field, that were crushed.
21:02 And he also pulled one in the gap or something.
21:05 And I don't know, he flew out, hit the ball pretty good, but it was nice.
21:11 And it was against the lefties and righties, probably had two of each, so yeah.
21:16 >> I would say rosters change year to year, but
21:20 you guys have a pretty good record against Auburn.
21:23 I think it was 18 and 5 since 2016.
21:27 And they've had a couple World Series teams, at least one in there.
21:30 I know you guys beat them in Omaha.
21:32 And you won three of the last four series at Auburn,
21:35 including the last time you learned two years ago.
21:37 Just kind of what do you think about the way you guys have done in that series and
21:41 especially winning at Auburn?
21:43 You got some guys on the team now that won that series there a couple years ago.
21:47 >> Yeah, I mean, I don't keep up with all those stats.
21:50 I couldn't tell you any of that stuff.
21:52 I do know that we won the series there a couple years ago.
21:56 They're always hard fought, and
21:59 it just seems like there's a little bit of drama,
22:04 because there's some runs being scored.
22:09 Now, I don't know which way the wind's gonna blow or if it's gonna blow, but
22:13 we've had some nice days over there when the ball was carrying and
22:16 a lot of things going on.
22:19 Like I said, you never know in this league how it's gonna go.
22:24 But we've done well in league play for a while now, and
22:29 that's a credit to the coaches doing a great job with our players and
22:33 our players playing hard every day.
22:34 And there's so much turnover with professional baseball graduation,
22:41 other things that you just have to kind of train your players from day one.
22:46 The guys that come back, they're talking and you gotta be ready.
22:50 When you go on the road, you gotta be ready,
22:52 cuz it's a different situation than at home a lot, but it's all mental.
22:57 It's how you see it, perceive it, and you just have to go into it.
23:01 With maybe a little bit different attitude,
23:07 it's gotta be a little more intense.
23:09 At home, you're more comfortable on the road, you gotta find a little edge.